New Horizons’ fly-by of Pluto and its moons is the latest in a historic string of missions to objects in the solar system. But given that a fly-by lasts for just a short time, how much can we really get out of it? There’s no doubt that the mission will yield a great deal of interesting data, but surely more would be… »7/16/15 4:15am 7/16/15 4:15am

Once you’ve put a satellite into space, that’s normally kind if it. There’s not usually a lot of replanning once your technology is in orbit, meaning that if you want to change something like the broadcast frequency, you’re stuck. That’s the reason these transforming satellites exist. »7/09/15 11:00pm 7/09/15 11:00pm

Without even looking a century or so ahead when we’ll take a Virgin Galactic flight to spend our summers on Europa, there are many legal issues that are already confronting humanity in space. That’s why space lawyers are plenty busy today examining the particular economic and societal challenges found where Earth ends… »6/20/15 3:00pm 6/20/15 3:00pm

Since their inception 60 years ago, satellites have gone on to become an indispensable component of our modern high-tech civilization. But because they’re reliable and practically invisible, we take their existence for granted. Here’s what would happen if all our satellites suddenly just disappeared. »6/04/15 2:02pm 6/04/15 2:02pm

The U.S. Air Force’s supersecret X-37B was launched into orbit for the fourth time last week, and amateur satellite watchers have promptly identified its secret orbit—also for the fourth time. There is, you see, a small army of amateurs who keep track of over 300 spy satellites, often with little more than a pair of… »5/27/15 8:00pm 5/27/15 8:00pm

The earthquake in Nepal was so violent it moved mountains. Satellite imagery shows that the parts of the Himalayas sank three feet—and the area around it as much as five feet—as tectonic plates snapped under extreme pressure. But the mountains will regain their height, slowly but surely, thanks to the geologic forces… »5/13/15 7:00pm 5/13/15 7:00pm

As unnerving as it is to hear, air traffic control has always been pretty piecemeal. Relying on a combination of instrumentation—namely, radar, radios, and GPS—as well as good old fashioned eyeballs, pilots do a pretty good job navigating the sky. But they’re about to get a lot better with a new satellite-based system. »4/30/15 3:30pm 4/30/15 3:30pm

On a day spent dodging Periscope unboxings of Apple Watches on the other side of the country, it’s difficult to believe that there’s too little information in the world. But when it comes to life-and-death predictions of agriculture in Africa, our system is woefully inadequate, and the only hope is space. »4/24/15 5:50pm 4/24/15 5:50pm

The December 28, 1959 issue of Life magazine featured this illustration of life in 1975. It's over the top and cartoonish, of course, but it perfectly sums up all of the techno-optimism that was so prevalent in the late 1950s — the Golden Age of Futurism. »3/09/15 4:46pm 3/09/15 4:46pm

How many satellites would you say are currently orbiting the Earth? A few hundred? Maybe a thousand? No: There are about 3,700 satelliteshurtling through orbit above us—so when one of them "breaks up," it's a big deal. »3/04/15 10:20am 3/04/15 10:20am

NASA's Earth Observatory has spent over fifteen years using satellites to collect hordes of real-time data across our planet's surface. They reveal everything from temperature and energy use, to how much radiation we beam into space. Here's how to understand satellite data maps to understand our planet's vital signs. »2/26/15 11:39am 2/26/15 11:39am

Here you can see a composite satellite photo of two cyclones hitting northern Australia within six hours of each other this week. In the upper left is Cyclone Lam, and in the lower right is Cyclone Marcia. It's beautiful but also terrifying. »2/20/15 7:45pm 2/20/15 7:45pm

The ocean is vast. We cannot patrol all of it. But now environmental groups are getting into the satellite game, watching for illegal fishing boats from the skies. It's just one more example of how high-quality, real-time satellite imagery can change our relationship to the world around us. »2/06/15 8:12pm 2/06/15 8:12pm